Episode 137: No such thing as an ugly win ... right?

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down Tennessee's 14-3 win over Charlotte and look forward to the Vols' annual Battle for the Beer Barrel showdown with 12th-ranked Kentucky on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. There’s no way to call the Vols’ win against Charlotte a beautiful win, but perhaps only because there’s no such thing as an ugly win. A win’s a win, and Tennessee hasn’t won enough games the past two seasons to complain too much about a win, but the performance against the 49ers produced plenty of room for discomfort, at least offensively. The Vols had just 192 yards of total offense and just 20 rushing yards against Charlotte. The 49ers do have one of the nation’s stiffest run defenses on paper, but that’s still a Conference-USA opponent, and any time an SEC program can’t push a C-USA program off the line of scrimmage, there understandably will be consternation and much gnashing of teeth. How much concern should there be following last weekend’s performance? Should that be considered simply a bad day at the office, or should it be considered a red herring for the final three-game stretch of the regular season? Should anyone expect anything on offense to look any better Saturday against a good Kentucky defense? Let’s not forget the obvious question, either: Is Kentucky — yes, THAT Kentucky — really one of the dozen best teams in college football? Those are the main topics of this week’s podcast, though several other topics — including a discussion on the targeting rule in football, a discussion on whether a 5-7 Tennessee team could play in a bowl game and a quick discussion of the sixth-ranked Tennessee basketball team — are mentioned along the way.